


In Our Bedrooms After The War

by nightoftheghouls



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Post-Persona 5: The Royal, Texting, so does akiren, takuto maruki needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:55:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24482392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightoftheghouls/pseuds/nightoftheghouls
Summary: What happened to Takuto really happened. He knew this, yet there was no proof, and a proper scientist always looks for evidence. The farther away the events became, the more ephemeral it seemed, and the more he began to wonder if that occasional whisper in his heart was really a voice he should listen to. If he wasn’t mad already, all this questioning would certainly finish the job.So, he did something he maybe shouldn’t have. Yet, he had a feeling that he wasn’t the only one that needed to be reminded of the truth.A few hundred kilometers away, Ren Amamiya’s popsicle break is interrupted by a text.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren & Maruki Takuto, Kurusu Akira & Maruki Takuto, Maruki Takuto & Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 12
Kudos: 86





	In Our Bedrooms After The War

The past few weeks taught Takuto a very valuable lesson: therapy was _exhausting_ when you’re on the other end. It was a strange feeling, knowing all the tricks being used against him yet falling for each one, his walls being brought down one by one. It’s no wonder so many of his patients were distrustful, really. Yet, despite its difficulty, Takuto had learned something else: sometimes healing can hurt. In fact, most of the time it hurt. He had always thought his duty was to numb the pain, to make it all disappear, and he realized now that he was dead wrong. Whether it's for a bad knee or a bad brain, when something hurts in therapy, it means it's getting better. Stronger. Only now, ripping the bandages of all wounds and literally having his heart pulled from his chest, was he starting to feel like a person again.

The only problem with therapy is that there was only so much he was permitted to say. Sure, he could tell Dr. Tanaka that Rumi’s sudden bout of amnesia was his own fault, that part of soul took the form of a lovecraftian god and took over all reality, that said reality was destroyed by a group of his own students, but that would make her take his therapy into an entirely different, unhelpful direction. Takuto was not delusional. Well, aside from the messiah complex, but he got over that.

What happened to Takuto really happened. He knew this, yet there was no proof, and a proper scientist always looks for evidence. The farther away the events became, the more ephemeral it seemed, and the more he began to wonder if that occasional whisper in his heart was really a voice he should listen to. If he wasn’t mad already, all this questioning would certainly finish the job.

So, he did something he maybe shouldn’t have. Yet, he had a feeling that he wasn’t the only one that needed to be reminded of the truth.

_Pi pi pi!_

A few hundred kilometers away, Ren Amamiya’s popsicle break is interrupted by a text.

**Takuto** _:_ Good evening, Amamiya-kun. I was wondering if we could chat for a bit, if you’re okay with it.

**_Ren_ ** _is typing…._

Takuto held his breath. What the hell was he thinking, trying to talk to him after all this?

_Pi pi pi!_

**_Ren_ ** _:_ Yeah, of course. How are you?

Oh thank goodness.

**Takuto** : Thank you. 

**Takuto** : I’m doing okay. Just trying to find my footing again, after everything that happened.

 **Ren** : Yeah, me too.

That surprised him a little. It was strange to think of Amamiya as anything but completely self-assured, but he supposed that it was only natural to have trouble acclimating to life back at home after so much time away, especially with some of that time being behind bars. The kid has been through way too much, and he was ashamed to think that he contributed to it. He kept typing.

**Takuto** : How are things back home?

 **Ren** : Boring, mostly. Suzui-san from Shujin transferred here, so that's something.

Suzui-san. He remembered her name, of course, the poor girl. It made him glad to know she had someone like Ren in her corner.

**Takuto** : That’s good. You deserve some peace and quiet.

 **Ren** : Peace and quiet? Ew.

 **Takuto** : Heh.

 **Ren** : Anyway, wbu?

 **Takuto** : Wbu?

 **Ren** : What about you?

Takuto hummed to himself. What was he supposed to say?

**Takuto** : I’m still driving the taxi. I can’t trust myself to go back to counseling just yet, if I decide to go back to it at all.

 **Ren** : Well, it's ok to take your time. Counseling isn’t going anywhere.

He was surprised by how much a simple statement could put him at ease, but he supposed he’d always be surprised by Amamiya. 

**Ren** : So what did you want to talk about? Any theories for me?

Takuto swallowed hard. God, how could he talk to him so effortlessly, as if he didn’t literally pull him off the ledge? As if he was still just his school counsellor? This was ridiculous, talking to a former patient like this, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was far too late to have a normal relationship with Amamiya. He had more than proved himself as Takuto’s equal. He hoped that Amamiya knew he’d do the same for him, if he called.

**Takuto** : No, no theories tonight, haha.

 **Takuto** : I might as well get to the point.

 **Takuto** : Everything that happened...happened, right? The metaverse, personas, all of that was real?

There was a long pause before he saw Ren begin to type again, and it filled him with dread. Was that why he was acting like nothing was wrong? Was he acting like he was just a counsellor because that was all he was? Was it all the delusions of a well-meaning madman?

**Ren** : It was real. It all happened, Maruki-sensei.

Takuto let out a half-sob, part relief and part shame. He wasn’t crazy, but he used to be. What gave him the right to decide what was best for everyone? He was supposed to heal people’s distorted minds, not twist them further. And worst yet, while his intentions were pure, they were also textbook projection: he wanted to run away, so he made everyone run with him.

What was he _thinking?_

He sucked in a breath, stopping that train of thought before it could go too far. He won’t forget what the phantom thieves taught him, nor his therapy: It's never too late to make things right. It’s never too late to start again. He began to text again.

**Takuto** : ...To be honest, I don’t know if I should be relieved or not. It’s good to know that I didn’t imagine it, though. I was starting to think it was all in my head.

 **Ren** : Sensei, I live in the middle of nowhere with my talking cat roommate.

 **Ren** : Talking cat- _shaped_ roommate*

 **Ren** : I think it’d be crazy to _not_ question that. The only reason I don’t is because I have an entire group chat to back me up.

That’s right. Amamiya has his friends to talk to. Takuto is sure that after everything, they’d be friends for life. They’re trauma-bonded, all of them. They faced their individual pains together.

Takuto could feel tears beginning to form. They had each other, but he was completely alone. Ever since that fateful day, he’s been facing his pain alone.

**Takuto** : You’re lucky to have such good friends.

 **Ren** : I know.

 **Ren** : Actually, could I forward your contact info to some of them? 

**Ren:** Some of the girls have talked about wanting to thank you.

He froze. Thank him?

**Takuto** : I don’t understand.

 **Ren** : Futaba and Haru got to see their parents one last time, and Sumire...well, that’s  
her story to tell, not mine.

 **Ren** : I should thank you, too. I was able to settle things with Akechi.

He was at a loss. They were grateful, but they rejected his gifts. Even Sumire, who he hurt so much, is grateful for him. 

His miracle couldn’t last, but maybe it didn’t need to. Takuto closed his eyes, and in the darkness, remembered how to breathe. Maybe that one moment of escape was enough.

**Takuto** : I just wanted to help.

 **Ren** : I know.

 **Takuto** : I don’t know how I’m supposed to just live my life after this. I feel like someone

else.

_Ren is typing…_

**Ren** : I don’t know either. 

**Ren** : It’s weird to think all of that is just a memory now, and that I’m gonna remember it my whole life. It’s weird that it happened at all.

 **Ren** : But we both made it. We’re both still here, and life is always changing.

Life is always changing. In his world, life would never change. Takuto doesn’t know if that’s beautiful or terrifying.

**Takuto** : I just wish I knew where life is taking me.

 **Ren** : You know better than to ask that.

 **Takuto:** Heh. I guess so. God is dead, and a bunch of teenagers killed him.

 **Ren:** Well, one god is dead. All I did was punch you out.

 **Takuto** : I still don’t get how you did it. I rewrote reality so I would win, and you guys beat me anyway.

 **Ren:** Well, what’s a god to a nonbeliever?

 **Takuto** : ...Wow, Amamiya-kun, that’s really profound.

 **Ren** : It’s a Kanye West lyric.

 **Takuto** : Oh.

And suddenly, Takuto found himself laughing. He knew the psychological effects of talking things out, but it was still amazing to feel the weight come off of him. The human mind truly is an amazing thing.

**Ren** : But seriously, sensei, I don’t think you need to worry so much.

 **Ren** : The other ruler of Mementos was made from the will of millions of people, and you managed to take it over by yourself. Your persona, your power, it all came from your own will.

 **Ren** : We may have taken your distorted desires, but we can’t take that away. No one can.

  
  


And so quickly, he went back to tears. He didn’t know how to process that. He knew Azathoth was a part of him, but he thought of himself as an offshoot of it, not the other way around. Could something that strong really have come from his heart?

The overwhelming part was that he could still feel him. His persona, his self, is still in there somewhere. None of it was really gone.

**Takuto** : The same goes for you, Amamiya-kun. Even more so.

 **Ren** : Well, I had my friends with me.

 **Ren:** But…

 **Ren** : I guess I could stand to give myself some credit.

 **Ren** : Hey, would you mean if we talked again?

 **Ren:** There are some things about what happened that I just...feel kinda weird talking to the others about.

It hits him again like an earthquake: after all this, he’s still just a kid. A kid with worries and fears just like Takuto. He thought again about his own therapist, and how much he’s not permitted to say, and how he was, despite it all, a doctor, and the only doctor that the boy would ever be able to tell the whole truth to.

Amamiya wanted his council, the council only Takuto could give . He made a promise, to Rumi, to society, and to himself, to heal anyone in need.

He may have gone about it the wrong way, but it isn’t a promise he could take back.

**Takuto:** Of course we can.

He’s starting again, and that means taking the first step.

**Ren** : Thanks.

 **Ren** : And by the way, you don’t have to call me ‘Amamiya-kun’. I think we’ve more than reached the point where you can use my name.

 **Takuto:** I guess so, haha. In that case you can use my first name as well.

 **Ren** : Pass. Too weird.

 **Takuto:** Huh??

 **Ren:** It’d be like calling my mom by her first name or something.

 **Takuto:** Wha? Why’d you choose your mom for that analogy??

 **Ren** : Thanks for reaching out, sensei. It’s good to hear from you again. Would you mind if we adjourn for the night, though? I have some lines to practice.

 **Takuto:** Um, yes, of course. You’re in a school play?

 **Ren:** Maybe, if I do well in the audition.

 **Takuto:** I’m sure you’ll do great. Break a leg!

 **Ren** : Heh, thanks. I hope so.

 **Ren:** Have a good night, Maruki-sensei.

 **Takuto** : Good night, Ren.

Takuto flopped downward onto his futon, suddenly completely exhausted. It was a good kind of exhaustion, though; the same pain of healing that he felt with Dr. Tanaka, but even more concentrated. Heck, he may even be able to sleep tonight. He was about to get up and prepare for such a task when he got another text.

_Pi pi pi!_

**Ren** : By the way, in theory, if something metaverse-related comes up, would you be able to help out?

Now there’s a question.

**Takuto** : I don’t know how good for my health that would be, but if people are in trouble and you need my help, I’ll do my best.

 **Takuto** : I don't think it’ll ever come to that, though. Heheh.

 **Ren** : Better safe than sorry, right? I for one think you’d be an excellent Phantom Thief.

 **Ren:** Maybe lose the costume, though.

 **Takuto:** Huh???

 **Ren** : Okay I seriously have to go now. Good night!

_Ren’s status is set to offline._

Takuto dropped his phone, sighing out all manner of emotions. That boy was something else, that’s for sure. He can’t help but feel like a piece of the puzzle came together tonight. He may not be perfect, not by a longshot, but he’s getting there. He’ll get there, at his own pace. They’ll both get through it, because neither of them have to get through it alone.

Something deep in his heart settles, and for a moment, he feels like he knows the person that he’s becoming.

Life is always changing in this world, so is he.

For the first time in a long time, that thought isn’t scary at all.

...Was his costume really that bad, though?

**Author's Note:**

> A conversation I felt was needed. I mean, Maruki does still have Akiren's number.
> 
> Also, I just see Ren being a theater kid. Dramatic boi.


End file.
